Okay, clarification on the screenshot rule.
Yes, you cannot post modifications you did not have permission to make, nor can you post screenshots of modifications you did not have permission to make. There's historically been a problem with this in the past.
If someone draws stuff onto my artwork without then distributing it as theirs, big deal?
And besides, a screenshot of say, an edit of a map? How'd that in any way hurt anyone? Really?
Yes, that is a big deal. It's surprising you use artwork as an example, because things like tracing are a big no-no in art communities. If someone took some of my art and modified it/recolored it/traced it and posted it, I would not approve of that.
It's okay that it isn't a big deal to you personally if someone does this with things you've made, but to some artists it is, and they have a right to be upset that their art is being used outside the scope of what they gave people permission to use it for. It's their intellectual property. In the legal world, this stuff is defined by licenses and all.
As for an edit of a map, the same applies. If you don't have "license" to be making edits to their art because they haven't given you permission to, you can't be showing it off.
HOWEVER,
I completely understand your concern, there can be MANY grey areas in this, and that's probably what's bothering you more than the concept in and of itself. If you need examples of what this would look like in practice and what we'd probably say to specific instances, here's a few:
- "I've made edits to Inazuma.wad, where he's colored red and has fire antlers to match my own OC. Can I show this off? I have not gotten permission to make this edit."
Nope, you cannot.
- "I've created a script which replaces all emerald tokens in the game with munchers from SMW, because it's funny. It by design does affect other people's levels if they had emerald tokens with them. Can I post a gif of gameplay where I had this script running?"
Yes, you can. And yes, this has happened.
- "I've fixed what I perceive to be the flaws in Gigalopolis Zone, and am showing off the changes I made to the community. I do not have permission to edit it. Can I show this off?"
Nope, you cannot.
- "I have ported something I was not given permission to port, see? In fact, the creator expressly told me he DIDN'T want me porting it, but here it is, because fuck that, I wanna play it. Here I am fooling around in 2.2 Castle Eggman 2 as him."
Nope, you cannot.
"I've created a mod which MASSIVELY changes any loaded content indiscriminately by randomizing it entirely. It makes everything silly."
Yes, you can.
So yeah, I understand your concerns. There are many grey areas. If there's a takeaway you should have, it's this: Just try to respect artists' intellectual property and don't assume you have the right to show off your interpretation of their art. If you're unsure, ask the author. If their answer seems unreasonable, ask staff. Maybe we'll agree! Maybe not.
It's definitely not our intention to be hardasses on nuance things, and ultimately it's not the sort of thing we're interested in digging too deeply into unless an artist comes to us and says, "Hey, I denied permission for them to make this direct edit to my thing, but they're still showing it off everywhere and I feel disrespected."
THEN we will look into it. Once again, this is a standard we thought about for a while, because these sorts of problems have arisen in the past. I hope that clarifies things and seems respectable enough?
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Okay, on the age limit:
This actually sucks. When we were discussing this in a staff voice chat, we were pretty much all of the mindset, "This game attracts kids, kids are great, and as long as people can get along nicely, we don't want to gatekeep anyone away just because of their age."
There's been a LONGSTANDING precedent of people younger than 13 being involved in this community and being major contributors to the community. It's awesome, really, and thus we're incredibly disappointed we have to make this rule, but:
We have no choice, unfortunately. We read through COPPA while we were discussing this and realized it's pretty black and white. Outside of the collection of parental consent, there's nothing we can do while still remaining legal. The law is just very strict about this, as disappointing as an arbitrary age can be.
Parental consent may be an option, but it's something we're still discussing, i.e., how to handle that can of worms.
It's not just a matter of thinking kids under 13 aren't mature enough to be on these forums (spoiler: they're not)
Yeah, I'm gonna ask you to keep these rude opinions to yourself, kays. Don't make sweeping prejudiced judgments on anyone's maturity. People grow up at all different rates and in different areas, and the 13 or younger individual who is completely capable of handling themselves in a community of adults is not an anomaly. They do not deserve disrespect, you see!
We don't even like the fact that we have to lock out the mature 13yos that exist here. But that's the age limit the law sets (and we understand why), so we have to abide by that.
